Youthful, muscular, and blessed with square-jawed leading man looks, his natural brunette hair often dyed blond for a role, tenor Jonathan Blalock hardly invokes comparison to Santa Claus. And, yet, Blalock’s name will forever be associated with the jolly old elf after assuming the title role in the world premiere of Mark Adamo’s opera Becoming Santa Claus, commissioned by the Dallas Opera for performances in December 2015. He considers it “by far the biggest break that ever fell in my lap.”
Hired as a cover, Blalock took over the title role when the originally scheduled singer was forced to withdraw due to a family emergency mere days before rehearsals began. “I’d never been under so much pressure, but the creative team and cast (all of whom were much more experienced than I) were incredibly supportive. It all went quite well!”
Keith Cerny, Dallas Opera general director and CEO, agrees. “Jonathan Blalock was so well prepared and in such fine voice from the moment he stepped in to assume the role, you could almost hear a sigh of relief emanating from the entire artistic and production team,” he says. “Jonathan showed himself to be as talented, both vocally and dramatically, as he was courageous. And he proved, time and time again, to be a terrific colleague as well—meeting every challenge with patience, perseverance, and good humor.” (A DVD of the opera, produced by Dallas Opera, will be released in time for the holidays and available on Amazon.)
Perhaps these qualities are the reason Blalock’s career—still very much in its early stages—consists of so many premieres, modern works, and productions with companies known for innovation, such as LoftOpera and UrbanArias. Recently, he received rave reviews for his role as the Electrician in Thomas Adès’ chamber opera Powder Her Face. And his résumé and calendar are brimming with premieres such as Luna Pearl Woolf’s The Pillar with the Washington Chorus, Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang’s An American Soldier with Washington National Opera, the title role in Gregory Spears’ Paul’s Case with the PROTOTYPE Festival, and the Intimacy of Creativity, composer Bright Sheng’s music festival in Hong Kong.
“I still love singing Mozart and Rossini, but it’s thrilling when I can help to create something new, telling stories that have never been told, and singing notes that have never been sung,” Blalock says. “In new operas we’re not trying to live up to an audience’s preconceived notions of how it should go. In these operas, no one will compare your phrasing with Maria Callas, and nobody will argue that your cadenza wasn’t as rapturous as Joan Sutherland. It’s quite liberating, actually.”
It’s an enviable young career that many singers would love to emulate. So how has Blalock developed it?
“Darren Keith Woods gave me my first leading role at Seagle Music Colony. They were producing Adamo’s Lysistrata, and I sang the role of Nico,” Blalock recalls. “At that time, I had no idea that I would become a new music specialist—and I certainly did not predict that I would have the chance to sing the title role in Mark’s Becoming Santa Claus a few years later!
“In my view, 21st-century music is a great equalizer,” he continues. “For new music, it really doesn’t matter whether or not a singer attends the most prestigious conservatories or wins the most important competitions. The most important elements for a world premiere are complete preparation, strong musicianship, and fearless dramatic commitment. Of course, the talent and technique must be there, but the world is already replete with beautiful voices. I started out as a pianist and then a choral conductor, so I enjoy tackling the mental and musical challenges of music written in the last two decades. The relationships I have built with composers, conductors, and directors continue to procure new opportunities.”
But those opportunities don’t just fall into one’s lap. He has, Blalock admits, “boldly pursued” them. “I’ve learned songs and arias by certain composers and e-mailed them to ask if I can meet them for a coaching. If I really like a piece that isn’t published or isn’t in an appropriate key, I’ll reach out to the composer to ask for a score. Almost every time they are overjoyed to meet singers who champion their music—and occasionally they’ll offer me opportunities to perform their newest pieces in concerts and workshops. Sometimes they will make casting suggestions when orchestras present their music.”
These strategies have paid off for Blalock repeatedly. He frequently is asked to workshop new pieces, and this often leads to premieres and concerts. While singing Dead Man Walking at Fort Worth Opera, he met composer Jake Heggie, who later invited him to workshop the tenor role in Great Scott and sing on a recital of his songs, which Heggie himself accompanied, at OPERA America.
After being introduced to composer and record label owner Glen Roven, Blalock offered to sing one of his songs on a recital and was invited to Roven’s apartment to coach it. Later, when Blalock was performing in Fantastic Mr. Fox at Opera San Antonio, Roven flew down to accompany him in a recital of his own songs.
Blalock originated the role of Stevie in Michael Dellaira’s The Secret Agent, and has been asked to workshop his new opera, The Leopard. Blalock recently workshopped Kamala Sankaram’s newest opera, Looking at You as a result of having performed with her years ago, and his invitation to perform in Bright Sheng’s music festival in Hong Kong is another result of cultivating and maintaining relationships with composers.
“Composers are my favorite people on Earth,” he says. “Their ability to tell profound stories and to weave melodies that touch souls so deeply is something I’ll never understand.”
New music may be a driving force in Blalock’s burgeoning career, but it is not the only force. His résumé is filled with lyric tenor standbys—Candide, Nemorino, Ferrando, Count Almaviva—and his 2016-17 calendar reflects plenty of standard repertoire, including La finta giardiniera (a coproduction with the Atlanta Opera and On Site Opera), The Mikado (Performance Santa Fe), La fanciulla del West (Michigan Opera Theatre), Carmina burana (Symphoria, in Syracuse), I pagliacci (Arizona Musicfest), and La Cenerentola (Syracuse Opera).
He also recently had the opportunity to perform onstage with his brother, tenor David Blalock, as Pang and Pong, respectively, in Pacific Symphony’s production of Turandot. “There aren’t many instances for us to sing together,” he says, laughing, “but we help each other out and give each other ‘leftovers.’”
David began as a baritone, and the two used to sing duets. “Our Pearlfishers duet in my master’s recital will always be one of my favorite memories,” Blalock says. “He then moved up to tenor, and I joke that I’ll need to ‘fach up’ to soprano so we can sing more duets! People occasionally ask if there’s jealousy or competition between us, but our relationship couldn’t be more supportive. He’s my best friend, and I’m his biggest fan.”
Blalock’s brother is not the only other musician in the family. His parents met in college choir. His mother teaches piano and his father led the church choir, and the family toured their native Carolinas to sing concerts and special services at several different denominations. “We sang complicated harmonies, and I’m sure that’s what helped me to develop a finely tuned ear. That skill helps me to this day as I sing tricky 21st-century music,” he says. “I wasn’t exposed to classical vocal repertoire at all, but I grew up listening to fabulous singers like Sandi Patty, Steve Green, David Phelps, and Larnelle Harris. They didn’t sing operas, but they performed with glorious, open-throated vocal production.”
Blalock did not set out to be an opera singer. He studied piano from early childhood and earned an undergraduate degree in sacred music from Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee. The school did not produce opera, but during that time he attended a performance of The Barber of Seville at Chattanooga Opera which, he said, captivated him. He sang in college choirs and musicals such as Oklahoma! and performed in the summer with the Lake Junaluska Singers, a Christian show choir, which led him to pursue choral conducting at UNC–Greensboro, aspiring to follow in Robert Shaw’s footsteps.
“That’s when I began voice lessons with Dr. Carla LeFevre,” Blalock says. “She wasn’t even supposed to teach non-voice majors like me, but I am so grateful that she made an exception. I had nodules and no technique when I began, but she relentlessly pushed me to develop a strong foundation for vocal health and technique.”
But an opera career still wasn’t on the menu. Blalock loved his school’s opera performances and singing in the chorus, but didn’t think he had the talent to sing leading roles. Then one day, after a semester of hard work, his teacher (“who never minced words,” Blalock confides), told him, “You know, I think I’d pay money to hear that sound.” Blalock was still unconvinced. “I loved to sing, but I struggled and wondered whether pursuing opera was a worthy career. It seemed supremely selfish.”
Then one day, tenor Anthony Dean Griffey came to the university to give a short recital and masterclass and to share his remarkable story. It was a watershed moment for Blalock.
Griffey, like Blalock, grew up in rural North Carolina and started his career as a church musician. He shared his experiences of holding free concerts to raise funds for the local homeless shelter and helping bring music education to underprivileged communities as well as his philosophy of using his voice to make the world a better place. “He ended his recital with the most heartfelt rendition of ‘This Little Light of Mine’ I’ve ever heard and he encouraged each of us to find a way to shine our own light in the world,” Blalock remembers. “His example taught me that singing doesn’t have to be a completely egocentric endeavor. It can be a way to bring joy, beauty, and healing. That’s when I knew in my heart that I wanted to be a singer. It’s not just a job; it’s a calling.”
On completion of his choral conducting degree, Blalock went back to UNC–Greensboro for a master’s in voice and ended up singing in a masterclass with Darren Keith Woods, general director of Fort Worth Opera and artistic director of Seagle Music Colony and well-known champion of young singers. Woods invited him to attend Seagle, with a full scholarship and a leading role, and later brought him to Fort Worth as a studio artist. “That was the first time anyone took a chance on me,” says Blalock, “and it opened the door for myriad other opportunities in my career.”
The next big break came with the invitation to sing the title role in the world premiere of the Gregory Spears’ opera Paul’s Case with UrbanArias in 2013 and, subsequently, at the PROTOTYPE Festival in 2014. “The role of Paul demanded everything I could possibly give vocally and dramatically, but luckily the character and the music were a perfect fit,” Blalock says. “All of the NY press gave us rave reviews, and we even made the top 10 list in the New Yorker. That project will always have a special place in my heart.” He will be recording the piece later this year.
Clearly Blalock is good at networking, but social media also plays an important part in his promotional activities. A dedicated tweeter, he jokes that he learned to tweet when he realized how addicted he was to validation, but acknowledges that social media is a powerful tool all singers can and should harness. In fact, he recently received a powerful reminder: before accepting a proposal for a recording project, the first question the major record label asked Blalock and his colleagues was “How many followers do you all have on Twitter and Facebook?”
“Connecting with people is what drives me on a personal and an artistic level. Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook give me the ability to communicate with other singers, producers, critics, patrons, and sometimes even celebrities and political figures,” Blalock allows. “I’ve absolutely seen tangible results from social media. Conductors and directors have offered me jobs directly through Facebook. People I haven’t ever met have attended a performance because they saw me tweet about it. One gentleman saw a tweet of mine and decided to attend his first opera. He fell in love with the art form, and it’s exciting to think that a simple 140-character announcement helped to cultivate another lifelong opera fan!
“In December one of my Twitter followers flew from California to Texas just to see our premiere,” he continues. “Last year I became very interested in a podcast and I tweeted the host to thank him for the excellent content. He invited me to be a guest on his show, and that soon led to an article featuring me in the Huffington Post. Twitter also introduced me to another friend who is now spearheading a recording project we’ll be launching this year.”
Blalock also uses social media to promote his friends and colleagues. He is generous about retweeting, reposting, and generally promoting and passing along information for other singers, as well as sharing his experiences and advice. He maintains a blog (www.JonathanBlalock.com), which grew out of a writing exercise in Julia Cameron’s seminal book The Artist’s Way, and found it therapeutic. The blog is now featured as part of Classical Singer’s online community and offers insights and advice about the singing business.
In fact, when asked what he would like to add to this article, Blalock responded with some advice for his fellow singers. “I think it’s important to remember three Ps,” he says. “Passion: we have to be willing to make huge sacrifices to pursue this path. Purpose: ‘Why do I sing?’ is a question many of us forget to ask ourselves, but it’s imperative to have a guiding focus to keep us grounded when life gets crazy. Perseverance: we all fall down, but we must learn how to learn from our mistakes, strengthen our resolve, and keep growing artistically.”
Perhaps he has something in common with Santa Claus, after all.
